


Brewing

by cephalopod_groupie



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Barista AU, Budding Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-23 11:32:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6115189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cephalopod_groupie/pseuds/cephalopod_groupie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barista AU. Shameless puns and cheesy plot. Enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Milk Wand

Hermann walks into Jaegerbuck coffee shop, weary from the day’s work in the lab. There’s still chalk dust on his fingers and some on his thrift-store old-man blazer. He’s average hight and kinda lanky, leaning on his sophisticated-looking cane. Newton’s on bar, making coffee based beverages for the sleep deprived. 

“I’ll be right with you!” Newt calls out. The rush is over and his fellow barista is in the back, stocking. He wipes his hands on his apron and walks up to the register. “What can I get you?”

Hermann winces at Newt’s overtly chipper greeting. 

“I’d like a cappuccino, please. A small one.”

“Wet or dry?”

“Dry please, thank you.”

“What’s your name?” Newt says, reaching for a cup.

“Hermann.” Newt nods and smiles, writing the man’s name with a flourish.

“Will that be all for you, dude?”

“Yes.”

“That’ll be $2.49.” Hermann digs in the pocket of his baggy grey-blue trousers for the cash. Newt looks him over. “Pretty cute,” he thinks to himself. 

“Receipt?”

“Please.” Newt hands him the paper with a thank you and then goes off to make the drink. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Hermann sit down and sigh heavily. Newt decides to bring the drink over to him. Hermann meets him half way. 

“I can manage thank you,” Hermann says gruffly, taking the drink and sitting down again. 

“Sorry.” Newt mentally kicks himself. He didn’t mean to act like Hermann was helpless. 

Hermann comes in the next day looking just as tired. He doesn’t say much. Newt’s “hello again,” doesn’t encourage a conversation. Newt watches Hermann as he strokes the milk wand with the sanitizer rag. He gets no reaction.

Tendo walks over to Newt and nudges him. 

“Hey, what’s wrong buddy?”

“Nothin’,” Newt sighs. He lowers his voice. “Well....I’ve been seductively workin’ the milk wand all day and he’s not even looking.” Newt indicates Hermann, sitting nearby. 

“Are you kidding?” Tendo whispers back. “Every time you’re not gawking at him, he’s gawking at you!” 

“Oh!” Newt’s face lights up like a Roman candle.


	2. Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newton is frustrated and wants to make a move.

“Could the music be turned down?” Hermann says, approaching the bar, somewhat perturbed.  

“Yeah sure,” Newt replies. The thin man had already turned away. Newt sighs. Tendo’s in the back dividing up tips. It’s a slow night. Newt slumps past him and cranks the speakers down. 

“Hey I was into that song, bro.”

“Hermann asked me to turn it down.”

“He spoke to you, huh?” Tendo is grinning. 

“Yeah, but I don’t think he’s into me anymore. Maybe he wasn’t after all.”

Tendo chuckles, slapping down the dollar bills in rhythm to the song. Newt peers out into the lobby. 

“See. Looking out the window.”

“Just go and talk to him before I give him your number.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would, brother, you’re driving me up the wall.”

“Sorry,” Newt says, turning the sanitizer tap on to soak the dishes. “But he’s so adorable,” he wines. 

“Ok, that’s it! I’m getting up.”

“No. No.” Newt says, blocking his way. “OK, alright I’ll go talk to him. I’m just so….fluttery.”

“When did you graduate from high school again?” 

“Like four PhDs ago."

“Touche.” 

Newton inhales, straightening his apron. Pausing by the window near Hermann he clears his throat. 

“Really coming down out there, huh?” Newt winces but pretends like that wasn’t the lamest attempt at conversation he’s ever made. 

“Yes.” Hermann’s conversation is dryer than his usual cappuccino.

“So…uhhhhh…You a professor or something?”

“I teach mathematics at the high school, yes.”

“Great! I actually work in biological research; this is just my day job.”

“I see.” Hermann gazes out the window again. 

“You come in here a lot. The kids must wear you out.”

“It is nice to unwind in here.” 

“We’re pretty slow unless it’s the 5-8am rush.”

“I usually avoid that, yes.” The ghost of a smile on Hermann’s face gives Newt a rush. 

“I’ll…uh…let you relax I just..wanted to say hello…” Newt turns away but Hermann inhales sharply. 

“What’s your name?”

“Newt.” He grins, pointing at his name-tag. 

“Oh how silly of me, I should have seen.” Hermann is bashful and Newt couldn’t be more happy about it. 

“Nah it’s ok.” Newt walks away and then stops in his tracks. He grabs a cup sleeve and writes on it. Closing his eyes he swivels on the heal of his half-destroyed Docs and slides it across the table. “Maybe this is too forward but here’s my number. I-if you ever need some intellectual conversation, ya know.”  

Hermann’s long fingers linger on the edge of the sleeve and he pulls it too him elegantly, lost for words. 

“You-ya don’t have to…I mean.”

“I would be glad to. Thank you….Newton.” Hermann’s eyes flicker up as he says this, meditating on the name tag for a moment. He tries not to look into the man’s face but it’s so difficult not to. Newt is smiling gently. “I better be going.”

“Yeah it’s getting kind of late. Do you have an umbrella?” 

“No, I’ll just make a dash for it.” Hermann gradually stands up to his full height, stretching a bit before walking toward the door. 

“No, wait, you an borrow mine.” Newt’s back in a flash. Handing it to Hermann, he gets a perplexed look in return. 

“Won’t you need it?”

“Nah, I smell like coffee, I should get a quick rinse on the way to my car.” Hermann smiles and Newt feels a little weak in the knees. 

“Well thank you. Goodnight.” Newt waves. He literally runs to the back. 

“Oh my GOD, he just took my number and waved back at me!” Newt rakes his fingers through his hair. 

“That’s lit, man. One thing." 

“What’s that?”

“Don’t leave the tap running again. My shoes are damp.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuing this work now that I am an ex-barista.


	3. Burnt Shots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt can be an idiot. We are all aware of this.

Newt sips his coffee in the back before going back on bar. He can’t stop grinning, still on a high after talking to Hermann the night before. It’s a busy morning and Newt doesn’t really stop to look up beyond talking to customers when he hands drinks off. As stressful as it is, there are some days when he loves it, especially today when he’s on a cloud. 

And then he sees him, that beautiful human, coming in early in the morning even though he only comes in at night. Newt pretends not to see him and continues working, unable to stop smiling. He feels his face heat up. He spills a latte and represses a swearword. 

“Oh man, don’t fuck up, buddy. You got this,” he says to himself.

Hermann is approaching the cash register. He’s looking gorgeous and dorky, groomed for a busy day of being a teacher, wearing tweed. He orders a cappuccino. Newt is just about to look up and catch the man’s eye when he realizes a tall man at the bar is glaring at him. He’s tall, handsome and well-built, no doubt a frequent subscriber of the gym down the block. Newt keeps working and ignores him for the moment until he can get caught up with drinks. He can see Hermann peering over the sneeze glass and he desperately wants to look up and speak but something about the way the other guy is staring at him is making him very nervous. Newt hands off the drink and the guy clears his throat. 

“No number on this one?”

“Sorry?”

“Your phone number isn’t on this one.” 

It suddenly dawns on him. He’d left his number on the cup for the same man last time because he thought he was hot, but then he’d forgotten. Newt swallowed and stammered. He could see Hermann’s face changing rapidly to disappointment. 

“You didn’t text me back even though you left your number on my cup last week. Is this some kind of joke? I thought you were into me. Were you just trying to trap me? Make fun of me?”

“No, no, honestly, I just…I. God, I’m sorry I should have told you I…I started dating someone else, I mean, I found someone else and I…sonofabitch.”

Newt doesn’t even hear what the man says in response but he’s gone soon enough and then he realizes Hermann is walking out too, without his coffee. Two sets of shots are sitting there going from smooth to burnt, the milk stopped steaming and the bar is a mess of syrup and spilt milk. The line of cups is getting longer every second and Tendo steps in. 

“I got you brother. Why don’t you go work on something in the back.”

Newt feels kinda dizzy. His heart is pounding and he walks to the back room. Before he can stop himself he’s crying hot tears.

The rush ends and Tendo walks up to Newt.

“Dude, you ok?”

Newt snifs. 

“No. I messed up. I totally forgot about that guy when Hermann started showing up here. God, I hate myself. Hermann is never coming back. I lost him.”

Tendo pats him on the back. 

“He’ll be back. Give him time.”

“I guess so.” But Newt sees that it’s time to go and he tears off his apron. When he gets to his car he throws it in the back, slamming the door. 

“UGH!”

 


	4. Drink Rewards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt wipes up his mess.

Newt walks down the street like it’s a sequence on Ally McBeal where some sad track is playing because she’d had a bad day. He peers in the window of the gym for the fifteenth time in the last two days, looking for the tall buff guy so he could apologize. About to turn away, he finally sees him, the man’s blonde highlights illuminated by the setting sun. He sort of thinks to himself that he might just go out with the guy because Hermann is never coming back anyway. But he’s so into Hermann he can’t just use this guy as a backup bang. He seriously likes Hermann, not just for the sharp jawline or the sexy voice, he finds the man fascinating, a challenge that fires him up so fast he feels like a horny teenager whenever he sees him. He enters the gym and walks up to the man he can’t remember the name of. The guy turns toward him, first smiling but at the sight of Newt his face goes expressionless, a hint of anger in his eyes. The woman he was talking to retreats in her yoga pants, saying “See you tomorrow, Raleigh.”

“Hey,” Newt says feeling like an absolute dum-dum.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to apologize.”

“Good.”

“See, I was really into you and then, well, this other guy started coming in…”

“Oh I see.”

“No no, see, he’s…I don’t know man, it’s not that I don’t think you’re amazing, I just. This guy. He’s so…special…not that you’re not special! Shit.” He looks up at the man who could crush him like a grape. “He’s…I’m drawn to him in a way I can’t explain. And he’s probably never going to come back in now cause he was standing next to me when you were talking to me but…”

“Wait, the thin dude in tweed?”

“Yeah, why?”

“That’s the math teacher at Shatterton High. I sub there for track or P.E. sometimes. He’s super shy. Nice man though. Most of the kids don’t hate him.”

“Oh really?”

Raleigh’s face softens. 

“Wow, you’re really falling for him, aren’t you.”

“What?” Newt stammers. 

“Well, at least you didn’t just drop me for no good reason.”

“I…yeah…” Newt rubs the back of his neck like Aladdin talking about Jasmine. “So, no hard feelings?”

“Free coffee for a week.” Raleigh smirks.

“Deal.” Newt smiles and walks out. He wants to ask if he can put in a good word for him but he doesn’t want to push his luck.


	5. Extra Drizzle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt gets a chance to make amends.

“Hey, not to alarm you, but your intended is here.”

“What?!” Newt’s response is short and scared. He was feeling a little dead inside since Hermann had walked out and now the man is back. Newt doesn’t want to hope but his mind is racing, thinking about how he can apologize, from wild romantic fantasies about carrying him out bride-style, to singing him a song: all the scenarios are playing in his head at once.  
“Dude, my heart is pounding so hard right now.”

Tendo just laughs.  
“Ok, I’ll work for a bit, let him get settled, and then go over there,” Newt says to himself. 

Newt exhales a few times. 

“I need a triple shot cold press.”

“No you don’t, brother.”

“Ok a solo espresso macchiato with caramel and then I stop drinking coffee for the rest of the day.”

“Slightly better.” 

Newt can hardly work he’s so flustered. His mind is racing and he’s talking himself through it. “If he never wanted to see me again he wouldn’t show up, right?” 

Newt knocks back his espresso and licks caramel drizzle off his index finger, hoping no one sees his sweet-tooth in action. Tendo taps on his shoulder.

“Ah! What?!”

“He just watched you lick your finger,” Tendo says as he slides by on his way to the fridge. 

“H-how did he look?”

“Fascinated.” 

Newt looks at Tendo, wide-eyed. 

“Like ‘he’s so sexy I wanna be that finger’ or ‘omg this man is disgusting’?

“The first one.”

“Oh shit.” Newt grins but his eyes look scared. “Oh man he’s coming this way omg I have to get off bar quick.” He dashes to the back and Tendo follows. 

“I hate to say ‘relax’ but I just did.”

“Ok, ok,” Newt says, breathing in, leaning on his thighs and digging his fingers into his tight black jeans. He stands there in the small backroom doorway for a few, waiting for Hermann to return to his usual table . Chuck Hansen passes him. 

“What’s going on?” Chuck says, nosing in.

“He’s gonna ask out the tweed guy.”

“‘Mr. Make that cappuccino bone dry if you please’?”

“Geez, you make it sound like he’s a ‘no foam’ kinda person,” Newt says back over his shoulder.

Tendo shudders. “God forbid.” Tendo pats him on the back and adds,  “Go get ‘em, tiger.” 

Newt steals himself for the confrontation, thinking about how he got a few PhDs under his belt but a simple conversation with a handsome dude was freaking him out. Well, maybe not simple. He walks up to Hermann who’s staring out at the rain, sipping his cappuccino. He looks Newt in the face and then gazes down at the table. 

“Listen, Hermann, I am so so sorry.”

“Yes, I’m sure you are.”

“Listen, that was so… I was so dumb. I really did like Raleigh I just got distracted.”

“So easily?”

“No. Not easily at all.” He pauses, “until you came in. And look, I even apologized to Raleigh. I do this, sometimes I’m too hasty and I’m just trying to have fun and hey that doesn’t always turn out we—.”

“What did you say?”

“About me being impulsive?”

“No, I mean, about…”

“About you?”

“Yes.”

Newt smiles a little. 

“Can I sit down?”

“Against my better judgement, yes.” Hermann loosens up but tries not to show it.

“Gee, thanks,” Newt says, pulling out a chair. “So I gave Raleigh my number and we did text a couple times and I was gonna keep responding to see where it went but then…” Newt sighs, tight in the chest and super embarrassed.“..then you came in.” He can’t even look at Hermann. 

Hermann reaches out, sliding his long slim hand along the rough wooden table, almost taking Newt’s hand. Newt sees this out of his periph and slides his own hand out to meet Hermann’s. They’re both trembling a little. 

“I overheard Raleigh say that a man did apologize to him. Apparently he told him he had become rather fond of…someone else.” 

Newt grins ear to ear, though still not looking up at Hermann. 

“Did he say anything else?”

Hermann smiles, almost to himself. 

“He said the man was short and scruffy,” Hermann says, “and handsome. I can’t disagree with him.”

Newt laughs softly, feeling like he could cry. Hermann takes his hand away only to place it on top of Newt’s hand, stroking with his thumb just a little. He looks out the window again and Newt finally has the courage to look up. Hermann’s face is beautiful, lean, cheekbones to absolutely write home about. 

“Will you stay here for a little longer?”

“Yes, perhaps an hour and then I should get home.”

“Ok, I should really, actually work, instead of…courting,” Newt says with a laugh. Reluctantly, he stands up but feels his hand slip out of Hermann’s, very slowly. The man looks up at him and they lock eyes for a moment. 

“I’ll come by later to say goodnight.”

Hermann nods. There is great tenderness in his eyes. 

 

“So, did you get a date?”

“No.” Newt is dreamy, blissful.

“No?!”

“No, but we sorta held hands and he thinks I’m handsome.”

Tendo nods. “Not too shabby,” he says, twiddling his rosary. 

“Ok, I’m going back out there.”

“Try not to burn yourself.” He turns to Chuck and adds, “Don’t let him operate the grinder or the urns.”

 

Nearly an hour wafts by and Hermann gets up to leave. Newt’s in the middle of dealing with a customer and Hermann mouths ‘I have to leave.’ Finishing up the transaction as fast as he can without being mega rude, he gets Chuck to step in. He runs to the door, taking his apron off and flinging it aside, getting to the door just in time to catch Hermann. He smiles. 

“Did you want to…” Newt starts to say but people are trying to get in so he and Hermann squeeze out the door, “sorry, I was gonna say…did you want to go out with me?”

“I would like that.”

“In like, an actual restaurant, with wine maybe. Do you drink? Like, the occasional glass not that you’re a soak or something.”

“I’ve said yes, Newton, you don’t have to be nervous.”

“Ha ha, yeah. Right. Cool, cool.” 

“Damn.”

“What?” 

“I’ve left your umbrella in my car.”

“That’s ok, lemme get my apron and walk you there.”

“Newton, that’s not necessa—” But Newt flies back into the store and out again before he can finish.

“Here,” he says, holding it over Hermann and his dumb haircut. 

“It smells like coffee.”

“Duh,” Newt replies as they step into the rain. It’s pouring out and they’re moving slowly because of the awkward way Newt has to hold the apron. “Where did you park?”

“Just across the road.”

Hermann is walking quickly, his cane is glistening with raindrops. 

“Not so fast, bud I can’t keep up.”  
A smile plays on Hermann’s thin lips. 

“The apron has stopped being useful anyway.”

“I guess so.” 

The apron is sopping wet but Newt hangs onto it. It drags on the ground as they cross the street. Hermann approaches his car and Newt’s standing there, waiting for Hermann to get in. But the math teacher stops and gazes into Newt’s eyes, moving a few wet strands off the shorter man’s temple. Stunned in the best possible way, Newt rakes his fingers through his dripping dark mane, lurches forward taking Hermann’s face in his hands and kissing him full on the mouth. Hermann fists Newt’s drenched shirt, kissing him back with an open-mouthed sensuality that surprises him. They paw at each other, a little frenzied, the rain bathes their faces. They stop, their lips ghosting each other. Hermann nips at him again, he can’t get enough. They open their eyes, bashful. The lamplight plays on their best features and it’s like an urban fairytale. 

“Wow. Ha, we kinda have a _Streets of Fire_ aesthetic going on,” Newt says, not letting go. 

“What?” Hermann asks, still dopey from the kiss. His tweed ensemble is heavy. 

“Oh it’s this dumb cult movie, I’ll tell you over dinner.” He smooches him again and pulls away. “You still have my number, right, handsome?”

Hermann responds that he does. 

“Please text me. I promise I’m not a jerk.” Newt’s calling out across the street as he backs into it, nearly tripping over the curb on the other side. Hermann smiles in the rain. He gets into his car. He would ordinarily wipe his face off with a handkerchief but he just sits there, beaming. He pulls the crumpled, wet cup sleeve out of his pocket. 

**Author's Note:**

> Barista AU...because I'm a barista and why the heck not. Even though I'm in grad school and I have like 9 unfinished Newmann fics....I gotta start a new one. *rolls eyes at self*


End file.
